Iran launched its first direct military attack against Israel on Saturday (April 13), firing scores of bomb-carrying drones towards the latter. An Israeli military spokesman said on Sunday the launches numbered more than 300, but 99 per cent of them were intercepted. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Iran fired 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles, and more than 120 ballistic missiles. Several ballistic missiles reached Israeli territory, causing minor damage to an air base. The Iranian attack on Saturday, less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building, marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.Iran’s letter to UNIran, in a letter to the United Nations, said it will exercise its inherent right to self-defence when required and that its response will be “stronger” and “more resolute” if Israel commits any military aggression again.In the letter, the Permanent Mission of Iran to the UN said its attacks on Israel were in retaliation to the latter’s “military aggressions”, especially its April 1 attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria. “This action was in the exercise of Iran’s inherent right to self-defence as outlined in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, and in response to the Israeli recurring military aggressions, particularly its armed attack on 1st April 2024 against Iranian diplomatic premises, in the defiance of Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations,” the Permanent Mission of Iran told the UN.Later, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, said they had informed the US the operation against Israel would be “limited” and for self-defence. “We don’t seek to expand conflict in the region,” he said.Gaza war Israel and Iran have been on a collision course throughout Israel’s six-month war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. The war erupted after Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a devastating cross-border attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others. An Israeli offensive in Gaza has caused widespread devastation and killed over 33,000 people, according to local health officials. Follow live updates here
Iran launched its first direct military attack against Israel on Saturday (April 13), firing scores of bomb-carrying drones towards the latter. An Israeli military spokesman said on Sunday the launches numbered more than 300, but 99 per cent of them were intercepted. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Iran fired 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles, and more than 120 ballistic missiles. Several ballistic missiles reached Israeli territory, causing minor damage to an air base. The Iranian attack on Saturday, less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building, marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.Iran’s letter to UNIran, in a letter to the United Nations, said it will exercise its inherent right to self-defence when required and that its response will be “stronger” and “more resolute” if Israel commits any military aggression again.In the letter, the Permanent Mission of Iran to the UN said its attacks on Israel were in retaliation to the latter’s “military aggressions”, especially its April 1 attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria. “This action was in the exercise of Iran’s inherent right to self-defence as outlined in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, and in response to the Israeli recurring military aggressions, particularly its armed attack on 1st April 2024 against Iranian diplomatic premises, in the defiance of Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations,” the Permanent Mission of Iran told the UN.Later, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, said they had informed the US the operation against Israel would be “limited” and for self-defence. “We don’t seek to expand conflict in the region,” he said.Gaza war Israel and Iran have been on a collision course throughout Israel’s six-month war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. The war erupted after Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a devastating cross-border attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others. An Israeli offensive in Gaza has caused widespread devastation and killed over 33,000 people, according to local health officials. Follow live updates here